10 Massachusetts communities may be elligible to share $4 million in tornado relief funding

Photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanMassachusetts Gov. Deval L. Patrick speaks during a ceremony Friday at the West Springfield Boys & Girls Club to mark the one year anniversary of the day and the hour that a tornado ripped through the area last June. Seated at left is West Springfield Mayor Gregory Neffinger. Seat at right is Rev. Robert Smith, a Massachusetts Fire Chaplain and board member of Raising Hope Together, a long term tornado recovery group. Standing from left are Conni Lind, Jessie Rivers, Ethel Lee, Peter Annone and Emil Farjo, Raising Hope Together vice president.

SPRINGFIELD – Ten communities may be eligible to share in $3 million to remove tornado debris from parks and public places.

Gov. Deval L. Patrick Friday announced $4 million in tornado relief funding. Patrick was in the region for events to commemorate the June 1, 2011, tornadoes that did more than $200 million in damage to Western Massachusetts.

Of the $4 million, $3 million is earmarked for cleanup of public places in the communities of Agawam, Brimfield, Charlton, Monson, Southbridge, Springfield, Sturbridge, West Springfield, Wilbraham and Westfield.

Monson Selectman Edward S. Harrison welcomed the funding, and said he is curious to see how the money will be divided up between the communities.

In addition, $800,000 would go for planting as many as 1,600 trees in parks and along streets in the affected cities and towns.

State Sen. James T. Welch, D-West Springfield said in a prepared statement, “When I drive down the streets in the areas hit hardest by the tornado, one of the things I notice is the lack of trees. Municipality budgets don’t have the additional resources for this effort but it is an important one. These aren’t just homes and community centers that need to be rebuilt, it’s also the vibrancy of the neighborhood and the landscape goes a long way to contribute to that.”

The funding also features $50,000 for fire safety assistance grants to the 10 communities, as well as surrounding communities that provide mutual aid for firefighting.

Included in the funding is $154,000 for clean up efforts at Brimfield State Forest.

Piechota said the funding for the Brimfield State Forest will allow the state Department of Conservation and Recreation’s work to continue. He said the state department has been clearing tornado debris to create fire roads within the forest to battle brush fires.

The work began after a brush fire burned 52 acres in Brimfield earlier this year.